trispot: Tuesday: Four Things I Forgot to Tell You About the Music City Triathlon and Track Workout

I forgot to mention four things about the Music City Triathlon that I am sure you want to know:

I had no choice but to use a port-a-john in my bare feet before the swim. It was scary and terrible, but I am choosing to believe that the funk in the Cumberland River somehow negates whatever I could have caught from the bathroom floor. It still shivers me timbers, but there really was no other option.
After I came out of the bathroom, I realized that I had inexplicably stuck one of my Dr. Pepper chapsticks into my bathing suit right above my hip on the right side. (Now, I always have AT LEAST two Dr. Pepper chapsticks on my person: one in my pocket, one in my purse. I am fearful about being caught somewhere without my chapstick. I like the way it tastes and smells. It gives a slightly pinkish tint to my lips. Sometimes, I go to Walgreens and notice that there are only two or three Dr. Pepper chapsticks left, and I buy all of of them, because what if they stop making them, and I am BEREFT? My lips will just flake off, and I will be lipless.) Anyway, I did not have time to go back and leave my chapstick in transition and I WAS NOT going to throw away a perfectly good Dr. Pepper Chapstick. That is crazy talk!!!!! SO, I simply left the chapstick where it was, AND I swam a full mile. Unbelievably, the chapstick did not move at all. It stayed put, was quite comfortable and I was able to reapply as I ran to transition. AMAZING!!!!
Gatorade was giving out their new recovery drink at the end of the triathlon. I love myself a Gatorade and I was pretty thrilled to pop the cap and try it. When I did, I was forced to honestly apprise if there was any chance that Gatorade was trying to poison me personally. It was a taste somewhere between chemical and sour dairy. I have a cast-iron stomach, and I had a strong desire to hurl Wayne's World style. Though I had just completed a triathlon in 95 degree heat, I was forced to turn down a Gatorade (one of my primary summer joys). It was very disappointing. I wish I could recommend it, but I think that we should seek other recovery beverage sources.
Finally, as I was getting out of the water from my warm up swim before the race, there was a weathered older man waiting at the ladder asking about how the ladder felt getting out. He was wearing a Pucci-esque speedo suit, and I found out that he was 81 years old and had completed an astronomical number of races this year. Now, I assumed that maybe he was doing a relay or aquabike, BUT NO he swam the mile, biked the 26 and ran the 6.2. A LEGEND. MY LONG TERM GOAL.

Now, this morning was my first track workout since our pink eye drama. I knew that I was most likely going to be a bit slower, especially since my run this weekend was so excruciating. At the track, Mark Miller told us all about the workout, which he referred to as a "Russian".

A Russian is three 300s, with a 40 second hundred meter jog in between. We ran at fast (F) pace, which was about a minute per 300. After we finished three 300s, we jogged a 900. This is a Russian. So, we did three Russians.

Now, the first Russian was not that bad. The second Russian, I could not quite keep up with Tracy. I felt like I was running really fast, but not going anywhere. During the third Russian, there just was almost no difference between my run and my jog. I felt rather tragic and sad, and honestly, if I had not missed the last two workouts, I would not have gone, based on recovery from my triathlon. BUT, since I had missed the last two sessions, I felt like I needed to get back in there and run real fast. Good for me!!

Also, I just checked my Music City Triathlon splits and my swim was unexpectedly bad and, my bike was bad, but that is absolutely to be expected. My run was not as bad as I thought, nor were my transitions.

Took a spin class tonight. Will tell about it later.